Day 8

Really nice to have a slow start to the day for once. After breakfast we headed out to deploy trail cams at our new location.

--

Our group placed one camera along the Deschutes River. As we walked further from the river, we found a cleared area with plentiful fresh piles of elk scat. We placed two cameras at opposite angles in the field. Coordinates, deployment details follow:



Site Name: River A
Camera Number: 15
Location: N 40° 52.106 W 121° 46.680
Time of Deployment: 12:00
Time Camera Turned On: 12:00
Weather Conditions: mostly sunny, slight breeze

Site Name: Poop Clearing B
Camera Number: 3
Location: N 43°  52.076° W 121° 46.668
Time of Deployment: 12:13
Time Camera Turned On: 18:46
Weather Conditions (when camera activated): partly cloudy, mild breeze


Site Name:  Poop Clearing C
Camera Number: 12
Location: N 43° 52.077 W 121° 46.669
Time of Deployment: 12:24
Time Camera Turned On: 18:49
Weather Conditions (when camera activated): partly cloudy, mild breeze

--

Our afternoon plans took us to Lava Lakes Campground and Resort for showering and Little Lava Lake for beachfront swimming. Showers ended abruptly, but everyone found their way into the water one way or another. Brandon, Chaperon Extraordinaire, whipped up some homemade vegetarian sloppy Joe sauce for me while Noah and I took a walk back to our trail cams to activate the two we hadn't turned on yet. 

   

 On our walk back to camp after setting up the trail cams, Noah taught me a few words in Yakama. I plan on learning more, but here's what I have so far:

 Pig: Kashow
Chipmunk: Masis
Eagle: Kamamool
Coyote: Spileye
Wolf: Xalish
Bear: Unaahoy
Deer/Buck: Yamash
Owl: Amash
Rattlesnake: Wokpush
You matter to me: Uh tamash amash

 --

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 11

Image
Our trial cams faired better than our previous attempt, or at least captured more interesting results. River A cam caught mostly scenic river shots (moving water). Cam B didn't record anything at night, but filled it's memory with pictures of the field. Cam C was the most interesting, catching video of a black tailed deer disappearing into the brush. More interesting still, it also picked up a unidentified human who actually adjusted our trail cam. The area was covered in piles of fresh elk droppings, as well as signs of elk or deer (aggressively) digging at the ground and downed logs. We also found a variety of fresh tracks in the area.    -- We were packed, had the campground (outhouse included) cleaned, and were on the road to Crater Lake by 8:35 AM. -- Volcanic crater turned lake, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and it is every bit as incredible as I'd imagined.  So happy we made it here.    We drove through the park and stopped a
Read more

Day 12

Image
Our Klamath guide, Alex met us at Collier Campground at 9:00 AM and led us to the Klamath Tribes' Research Station. Here we learned about two species of fish that are both endemic to the area, and a sacred fish of the Klamath Tribe. Koptu (Klamath) - shortnose sucker ( Chasmistes brevirostris)  which can live 33 years old and grow up to 24 inches. C'waam (Klamath) - lost river sucker ( Deltistes luxatus)  which can live to 55 years old and grow up to 35 inches. Pit tag tracking has shown that neither species has produced young capable of surviving to adulthood, even though millions of larvae are produced each spring.     These two species were currency for trade with other tribes as well as the primary food source for the Klamath and Modoc from historic times to the 1980s. Tribes used to harvest tens of thousands of pounds of C’waam each year during the Return of C’waam Ceremony, held each spring. Today, tribes are restricted to harvest of a single fish each year for use
Read more

Day 9

Image
I awoke this morning to the sounds of elk and coyote chattering in the area surrounding our campsite – somewhere around 4:50 to 5:30 AM. A personal best for me was completing a three-mile run around the campsite and part of an old logging trail. I made it back by 6:15 to set up breakfast.    After that, I assisted in the execution of a mouse that had the misfortune of filling up on food in the RV. I volunteered to assemble live traps this evening to avoid having a repeat of this particular event. By the time we left camp at 7:45, I’d had a pretty full day! -- The first [planned] adventure of the day was hiking the Deschutes River Trail, another three miles of beautiful scenery. Following our morning hike, our entire group was treated to showers, electricity, WiFi, and burgers/brats/veggie burger goodness, courtesy of Joy and Rick, two of Dr. Black’s longtime friends. It was incredibly kind of them to share their house with us. We spent the bulk of the afternoon in luxur
Read more